First of all we as Americans should be embarrassed by the way the "authorities" handled this, but let me begin with who is wrong and why chronilogically.

1. The woman who 'reported' this was wrong. Supposedly she kept turning around and staring at the three students. She kept trying to overhear their conversation. Due to this the three students played a practical jke on her. She was rude. She should have minded her own business and stayed out of the affairs of the three students she obviously (and racially) found suspicious.

2. The three students were wrong. In a time when a country is at its weakest, and at a time when tempers are flairing (mostly racially motivated) the three students should have been wise enough to not joke about a terrorist attack. I understand they should not stand up for anything racially motivated, or even obnoxious or stupid people, but they should have confronted the woman directly and asked her to leave them alone.

3. The authorities were wrong in making such a stupid display of over-zealousness. They should have researched and investigated the 'threat' in more depth. If the cops are going to close 111 miles of highway every time there is a bomb-threat or other empty threat, we will be paralized as a country.

4. The press is clearly in the wrong once again for jumping to conclusions. They should never have allowed that ignorant woman to speak on television, they should have used prudence in the way they handled this, but hey it is the American press, they are lower than trash in my mind...

Not too long ago there were anthrax scares all across the US. I remember hearing of one guy who pulled a similar stunt on his friend- sending white powder or something that could look like anthrax to his friend to scare him. Well, the FBI were called in and the guy had a huge mess on his hands, ended up in jail for his 'practical joke'.

I agree with everything Ouizy said- everyone was wrong in this situation. But I think these three should never have joked about a subject like this and I'd be surprised if they weren't punished for it in the same vein as the guy I mentioned above was.

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Originally posted by ouizy
2. The three students were wrong. In a time when a country is at its weakest, and at a time when tempers are flairing (mostly racially motivated) the three students should have been wise enough to not joke about a terrorist attack. I understand they should not stand up for anything racially motivated, or even obnoxious or stupid people, but they should have confronted the woman directly and asked her to leave them alone.

People working in clinics where abortions are performed have to deal with this type of thing EVERYDAY, and it is largely ignored.
They have to walk by ppl protesting and threatening their patients on an ongoing basis, steps need to be taken to protect this industry across the board. It should not result in discouraging potential health care professionals from doing what they love, and the hospitols have just as much need to protect their workers, as well as patients.

Originally posted by sharky But what power does the hospital have? None. It can say it received these emails. It can say racism is wrong. But at the end of the day, it has to protect its patients and give them the best care possible.

It can say racism is wrong and we refuse to give in to racists. It can stand up to the pathetic individuals who are too ignorant to realise that you can't identify criminals by the colour of their skin. It can tell them that no matter how many racist emails they send and no matter how many threats they make, they will not get to dictate to the hospital who may work there, especially not when they want that judgement to be based on the colour of a person's skin.

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How can a doctor provide care to a patient when he has to walk through a group of ignorant protesting Americans being loud in front of a hospital? How can a hospital treat its patients with cops outside to protect it?

I don't know - you could always try asking a doctor who works at a family planning clinic and has to face anti-choice protestors on a daily basis. You could ask her how she feels going to work everyday with the knowledge that some extremists would happily blow up the building she works in and then celebrate the "innocent lives they saved." You could always ask her patients how they feel about being screamed at, having objects thrown at them, being spit at, when they arrive for an appointment.

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I believe I said it in the 9/11 thread-- those of us who are interested in these issues are alot smarter than those who send hateful emails. There are some "Americans" who are stupid fucks, who feel its their patriotic duty to spit at anyone wearing a turban, deface a mosque or go on a killing spree shooting gas station attendants that "look muslim." There are some who would go through with their threats and harm that hospital no matter how many times the president of our country says terrorists, not Muslims, are our enemy.

I'm glad that you and many others are smarter than that and I agree wholeheartedly with your condemnation of those "stupid fucks"

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In the end, the hospital has to protect its patients and is it worth trying to defend three interns when that money could be spent to save a person's life?

It also has a duty to protect its staff from racist abuse. If that hospital was threatened by "terrorism" (in the sense that word is used after September 11) would you object to money being spent to protect it? If the answer is no then I don't see why the answer should be any different when the threat comes from racist thugs and not terrorism.

For the record, the 3 students have denied that they were joking about anything terrorist-related.

from the New York Times:

"Not once did we mention 9/11," Mr. Butt said. "Not once did we mention anything about 9/13, nor did we joke about anything of that sort. She was probably just eavesdropping on our conversation and might have heard a few key words that she misconstrued."

First of all we as Americans should be embarrassed by the way the "authorities" handled this, but let me begin with who is wrong and why chronilogically.

1. The woman who 'reported' this was wrong. Supposedly she kept turning around and staring at the three students. She kept trying to overhear their conversation. Due to this the three students played a practical jke on her. She was rude. She should have minded her own business and stayed out of the affairs of the three students she obviously (and racially) found suspicious.

2. The three students were wrong. In a time when a country is at its weakest, and at a time when tempers are flairing (mostly racially motivated) the three students should have been wise enough to not joke about a terrorist attack. I understand they should not stand up for anything racially motivated, or even obnoxious or stupid people, but they should have confronted the woman directly and asked her to leave them alone.

3. The authorities were wrong in making such a stupid display of over-zealousness. They should have researched and investigated the 'threat' in more depth. If the cops are going to close 111 miles of highway every time there is a bomb-threat or other empty threat, we will be paralized as a country.

4. The press is clearly in the wrong once again for jumping to conclusions. They should never have allowed that ignorant woman to speak on television, they should have used prudence in the way they handled this, but hey it is the American press, they are lower than trash in my mind...

I see it the same way you do ouizy.

And, I might add that since 9/11/01, the American people have been told repeatedly to "stay vigilant...report anything you feel is suspicious." This woman probably thought she was doing her duty as an American...I think she was being a nosy busy-body but I'm sure she felt justified.

And if those 3 guys really did play that type of prank on someone just days after the 9/11 anniversary...I don't know what to say about that.

Would you admit to joking about such things if you were the med students?

The police responded correctly to the situation. I would rather have them overreact and find out they were wrong later. We have been at war for years. Starting with the first Trade Center Bombing, the Embassy Bombings, The USS COLE, and now 9/11.

It is time to wake up and smell the coffee. If "SOME" pink polka dotted people are out to kill us then pink polka dotted people are going to be suspect. That is not racism, that is called self preservation. It's not even prejudice because there is "just cause" for concern.

That said, I praise anyone who legitimately reports things to law enforcement. We have no idea what threats have been made against us, nor do we know how many people are phoning in tips to the police. This I do believe based on the fact that I am sure this is not the first time someone has tipped the police off in the past year: There must have been some type of warning in FL to lead them to react the way they did. Thank goodness they did!

As for the hospital again we do not have the facts. For all we know, these three have been in trouble before. I hate the thought that it is a knee jerk reaction, especially when they were not found of any wrongdoing. It is a trajedy if they did not do anything, and they lose their future because of it. It is equally trajic if they inflicted upon themselves with a stupid joke on someone who was staring at them.

THis woman said they were talking in muslim and heard 9/11 and other english words. Ah well sorry to break it to you lady but only one of them know how to speak muslim. I watched these kids on crossfire today and they looked very adament that they did nothing wrong. The woman that reported this is now in hospital and all three of these kids sent their best wishes out to her!

This is utter bullshit that these kids wont be able to complete their residentceys. If i were them i'd sue her, the cops and the hospital!!!

Over reaction is not good its dangerous. What if one of these kids paniced and were shot? Oh and the cops said they werent co-operative, well two of them were and the third said they couldnt search his car because it took him 2 hhr to pack. If cops pulled me over i wouldnt be to happy and wouldnt let them just run over me!!!

And the story that the men barged through a toll booth is bullshit as well. They even have video eveidence that the cops wont make public!!!

They reacted that way for a reason. DO you really think that this is the first time a tip was made to the police by someone in the past year? If the law enforcement agencies reacted this way to all the tips they received I would agree with you. For them to shut down the highway ect....There was a reason for it beyond one phone call.

They reacted this way for a reason. Reasons you and I are not privy to.

As for one of them accidentally getting shot...It did not happen.

The world is full of what if's....What if our government agencies were not handcuffed by political correctness? Maybe 9/11 would not have happened. In this case it did happen.

As for the hospital....I have little sympathy for their decision. No charges on the three, then they should be able to finish their schooling.

I agree with almost everything ouizy said; however, I take exception to his statement about American journalists. True, sometimes our press goes too far with some issues, especially in the (dare I say it) post-9/11 world. But the American journalism tradition is among the best in the world, and look at some of the journalists we are fortunate enough to have today--folks like Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, and of course someone like Daniel Pearl--and I think that freedom of the press has never looked better.

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